In
the distance, thousands of frightened, fleeing pure white birds arose
above the treetops to blacken the sky with their furiously beating
wings and filled the air with the sounds of their distant squawking
cries.
The short-lived avalanche seemed to be over almost as soon as it had
begun. When all was still again, the towering, choking dust clouds took
some time to clear. When she could finally see again, peering over the
swirling dust clouds, she discovered that the collapse had utterly
buried the body and all the ground round about it under an immense mass
of broken shale and great flat broken slabs of slate, together with
myriad smaller rocks.
She managed to climb carefully down without falling and hurting
herself, and was even able to retrieve her horse. Loyal to her, he had
only tried to run at first, but no more than a little ways off, after
which he had stopped and turned, remaining curious enough to linger and
watch.
However, he was understandably a bit more skittish and agitated than
usual, and although she approached him without much difficulty, she had
to resort to calming him by holding and stroking his head and breathing
on his nostrils. He tossed his head frequently at first, swaying her
bodily on her feet whole arm-lengths this way and that by the power of
his head alone as she sought to hold on and calm him down.
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